Home?
by lostinreality303
Summary: Bella and her son Journey to Forks after the death of her father. While there she meets different people that help her survive her new life, including a Doctor with a not so simple life of his own. Click for full summary. M for language & adult themes
1. New Life

Full summary: Bella and her son Journey to Forks after the death of her father. While there she meets different people that help her survive her new life, including a Doctor with a not so simple life of his own. Can Bella help to bring all of these people together while also struggiling to keep her own life from slipping off the tracks.

AN: This story will have all of the 'Cullens' but they all don't know each other. Thier lives are all pretty close to what thier human lives were like in Twilight, but I have changed a few things. At this moment the La Push characters will not play a role in this story but that may change. I will try to update at least once a week but I also have another story I am writing at the same time. Do not worry though you will not have to wait weeks on end for me to update. Chapters should be about the same length as this one and I'm sorry but it will be a couple of chapters before Edward is introduced.

Disclaimer: I am not Stephenie Meyer therefore I do not own the Twilight Franchise.

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_**New Life**_

He looked so peaceful through the rearview mirror. Like an angel with no wings, my personal angel. He may not know it but this little guy gave me hope and I wouldn't want to change a single thing about how he came into my life.

If you're expecting one of those cliché stories where my best friend/love of my life knocked me up and I ran away so that I wouldn't be such a burden to everyone then you will be sadly mistaken. No the peaceful sleeper in the back seat was a product of sheer stupidity. The one time in my life when I decide that it's okay to let loose backfires on me. The one time that I decide that it would be the perfect time to enjoy myself at one the parties Riana was always taking me to, I end up pregnant. What's sad is that I don't even remember how it happened, so in my mind I guess I'm still a virgin. Anthony Zane Swan, that's what is sleeping in the backseat of my old beat up '96 Honda Accord. I wanted to name him Anthony Skylar Swan, but well you can guess what everyone as school would call him when he got older "Look there goes A.S.S.". Looking in the rearview mirror again I can see the signs of unease, the slight frown at the corner of his mouth, and the restlessness in his movements. I know he's not really sleeping peacefully, I know I wouldn't be if I was my mother. Everyone tells me that I'm so great with Zane (he decided to go by his middle name, apparently Anthony is just a little too old school) and that I'm a natural born mother. I don't see it I guess. When I look into the mirror I see a girl way in over her head; a girl, not a woman and definitely not a mother. Maybe that's a part of what being a mother is; always worrying that what you're doing is never enough. Or maybe I'm not cut out for this; I can't keep a steady job, I have no other family for Zane to know, and we barely get by. Eviction notice after eviction notice has proven that I'm not fit to be a mother. The lack of health insurance and a stable home shows that I can't provide for him the way a mother is supposed to.

The sign telling me were heading into Oregon passes me by; it feels no different than when my headlights lit up the Welcome to California sign. Isn't there supposed to be that feeling of elation that I'm one state closer to a new life, that feeling of possible security, or is my heart already preparing me for what I know will be coming. It's like that Carrie Underwood song about temporary homes except I don't exactly know where I'm going in life. I found out a few days ago that I did in fact have a father, emphasis on the "did". His name was Charlie Swan (now I know where my last name came from); he was a police chief for the tiny town of Forks, Washington. The very place that I was headed to now, in Charlie's will he left me everything he owned. Which judging by the lack of human populous in Forks; it can't be much, but who am I to look a gift horse in the mouth? That five minute phone call from a Mr. Lloyd gave me hope that this was it, our chance at a new life, a new beginning. So I packed up the three bags of belongings we had and started the long journey from Phoenix, Arizona to Forks, Washington. I wish I could have met him, my father I mean, he sounds like here was a pretty cool guy to just leave everything he owned to me when we didn't really know each other that well. Mr. Lloyd told me he died on the job, I wanted to ask him how exactly his life ended but I figured that would be prying a little too much. I think that once I get settled into our new home in Forks I'll go and visit Charlie's grave and thank him for his generosity. I imagine by now most of you are wondering how my mother plays into all of this. The simple answer: she doesn't. The not so simple answer can wait for another time.

"Mommy" Zane groggily calls out "where are we?"

"We're half way to Forks, baby" I tell him while taking an exit ramp for a town named Medford, knowing the next words out of his mouth will either include hunger or the need to use the bathroom.

"Can we stop some where I need to potty and what about food I haven't eaten in forever?" I know my son way to well.

"That's what I'm doing Anthony, how does McDonalds sound?" I call back to him while throwing on my blinker first toward the gas station.

"Mom! Don't call me that it makes me seem really old" Zane yells back now completely awake "Can I get the chicken nugget happy meal, please, please, please, I promise this time to eat everything before I play with the toy."

"Sweetheart their serving breakfast now, you've been sleeping for a really long time"

"Oh, well then I want the sausage pancake sandwich meal thing with chocolate milk." He told me as we pulled into the gas station parking lot. I drove around to get gas first so as soon as we were done eating we could back on the road. I went inside to prepay 30 dollars which almost filled up the entire tank. We only had around 50 dollars left and I imagine I would need to get gas another time. That left at least 20 dollars for the rest of the trip; it looks like I will be eating off the dollar menu. After getting gas I drove over to the McDonalds. Since we had been in the car for a really long time I thought it would be best if we ate inside.

"Hi welcome to McDonalds what would you like to have this morning." Usually overly cheering people piss me off but something about today made me appreciate the effort this young girl puts in to making her job as bearable as possible.

"Can I get the sausage McGriddle meal with chocolate milk, a sausage burrito, and a hash brown?" I paid for our order and stood near the back so that I was out of the way of everyone else. Anthony liked to show that he was a very independent person and went to go find us a seat. Once I picked up our order I turned around to find Anthony seating in the booth clossest to the play area, it was nice to know that he was still a child at heart. Anthony ate quickly and since there was no chance of him receiving a toy I let him go play in the play area for a little bit. We had been cooped up in the car for hours and we both needed a little break and it's not like we were on any timeline. We had been on the road for almost 20 hours now, well more like 17 since I took a three hour nap at a rest stop that I found to be well lit but mostly deserted. It wasn't much of a sleep though considering I kept dreaming up scenarios where a truck driving axe murder killed us. By my calculations and the map I bought before I left we should be arriving in Forks in about 10 hours.

Soon thirty minutes had passed and even though we were in no rush I knew it was time for us to get back on the road. Surprisingly it wasn't hard to get Anthony back in the car; I think he was just as ready to get this trip over with as I was. Between Medford and Portland we had to make two more stops for restroom breaks and to stretch our legs. By the time we reached Portland we were both really hungry and we made a stop at a place called Old Time Pizza. It was a pretty cool place and we split the Spaghetti and Meatballs so it didn't cost a lot. I topped of the tank before we left Portland so now we were left with close to 10 dollars for dinner. I was hoping to reach Forks by dinner time and since Forks was about 5 hours away I think we might be able to make it.

We were only on the road for about thirty minutes when I noticed that Anthony had gone back to sleep. Being in a car has to be extremely boring for a 5 year old. I really hate what this trip is doing to his sleeping patterns; it's going to take days to get him sleeping at normal times. Anthony finally woke up just as we were passing through Queets, WA. We were just about an hour outside Forks and the road we were on allowed us to look out across the ocean. Anthony really liked that, growing up in Phoenix he has never gotten to see the ocean. I imagine this means there will be several trips to a beach somewhere in our near future. Pretty soon we arrived in Forks, WA. It was just like I thought it would be, quaint and welcoming. It had that small town charm that you can never go wrong with. Finding Charlie's, I mean our house wasn't terribly hard. The house had a small gravel driveway just big enough for two maybe three cars at the most. It was painted a simple off white with blue accents that were beginning to fade. From the outside it looked much bigger than I expected but what did I know, we had been living in apartments for most of our life. Anthony raced out of the car and up toward the front door, which did him no good considering I had the keys and the door was locked. We didn't have many possessions with us so I was able to grab them all in one trip. Once I unlocked the car Anthony stormed up the stairs and I heard him yell mine once he found the room he wanted. I sat our bags down next to the stairs and looked into the kitchen to see that it was a reasonable size but not dreadfully small. I looked in the living room next to see that all the furniture apparently came with the house as well. Charlie seemed to have spent a rather simple life but he must have loved T.V. based on the fact that standing in the living room was a 52" plasma screen T.V. The living room was situated right next to the stairs that doubled as the other wall for the hallway. The hallway lead to a door to the back yard. There was one room off the hallway which I was glad to see was a laundry room. There was also a small Harry Potter type closet under the stairs that I could use for storage. I made my way out the back door to discover a decent sized back yard that bordered against a forest. I would need to caution Anthony not to go into the forest without letting me know first.

Eventually I made it upstairs to find Anthony in a room that must have been mine at one point. There was a small crib, a changing table, and a rocker. The site was really sad; he must have been waiting for a really long time for my mom to come back and to bring me with her. The room was extremely dusty almost as if no one had stepped foot into the room in a really long time. I would definitely have to spend a lot of time sanitizing everything in here before I would ever let Anthony sleep in this room. On my way to the room that would be mine I passed the only bathroom in the entire house, which was fine because Anthony and I rarely spent any more time than what was necessary in the bathroom. This room had to have been Charlie's and I could tell it hadn't been changed much since my mother left. The bed comforter had flowers on it as did the curtains; there was also a matching vanity and dresser. He must have really loved her to deal with all this frilly stuff for over 23 years. Anthony came into my room after a few minutes asking about dinner and when we were going to eat. All the utilities seem to be working so part of me was curious if there was any food in the pantry. I went down to the kitchen to find that both the pantry and the fridge were pretty much bare except for some cans of beans, chips, pop-tarts, bread, milk, some fresh frozen fish, and a pack of beer. Charlie was definitely a simple man. It wasn't much to work with but it would have to do until I could get some money to go grocery shopping.

We ended up having some baked fish with beans and garlic bread and for dessert a strawberry pop-tart. The foods didn't exactly go together but I got no complaints from Anthony. After we ate our meal we made our way to the living room to see if I could operate this mammoth of a T.V., which Anthony loved. As soon as we got into the living his eyes light up at the site of the monster and he squealed as if Christmas had come early. I eventually figured out how to get the T.V. on and then how to work the controls to find a cartoon station. We watched T.V. for a while until Anthony drifted off to sleep and I followed him into sweet oblivion not to long afterwards.

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Reviews are not mandatory for me to continue this story but they are greatly appreciated!

-Lostinreality


	2. Thank You, Charlie

AN: Okay so the story started out with them in Medford and it was 8 in the morning they made it to Portland at about 2 and then they made it to Forks around 7, I would say after looking around, cooking, eating, and watching TV they probably fell asleep around 10ish, I didn't exactly have a timeline and it bothered me so there it is. Oh and yesterday was a Thursday so today is a Friday.

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_**Thank You, Charlie**_

I was woken up by the pounding of rain and a light snoring in my ear. It was times like this where I wish I could say 'oh, he's just like his daddy', but I'll never be able to say that because I didn't even know who knocked me up. That's probably the only thing I regret. I started to look around the living room to see if I could spot a clock so I would know what time it was. With my search coming up empty I decided to get up from the couch and look elsewhere. I didn't want to disturb Anthony so I tried to get up as slowly as possible. He was lying down on my chest so it wasn't the easiest task, but after careful maneuvering I got him to cuddle up with a throw pillow instead of me. I went to the kitchen first to look but since Charlie probably never used the Kitchen my search came up empty again. I deducted that his room was probably the safest bet and I was right. Sitting on the nightstand next to the bed was a small alarm clock he probably bought at a local bargain store. The neon lights told me it was almost seven in the morning and that I had over an hour before Anthony was likely to get up.

From the smell wafting off of me I could tell that it was time for a shower. I collected a change of clothes and headed to the bathroom. While in there I found a half empty bottle of the two in one shampoo and conditioner. Using a dead person's hygiene products kind of freaks me out but right now the funky smell coming off of me was winning out. It took me a lot longer than I thought it would to figure out how to operate the water controls to get it to the perfect temperature but eventually I was able to actually take the shower I so longed for. Standing with the water pounding on my back I began to contemplate when the floor was going to fall from under us. There was no way that we were lucky enough to get this house and everything in it without there being something we had to sacrifice. Maybe karma would come back around and bite us in the ass later but for right now I just wanted to bask in the good fortune we had stumbled on. After about a twenty minute shower I got out and changed into some old sweat pants and a ratty t-shirt. I made my way to Anthony's soon to be room and started at the back of the room. There I found the crib and a small changing table. I wasn't sure what I was going to do with all of this stuff or where I was going to put it but I needed to do something with it right now.

The gods must have been smiling at me because at that moment I looked out the window located right next to the crib and there sitting by the side of the house was a small storage building. I guess now I know where I am going to put all of this stuff. I took all of the bedding off of the crib; it was the traditional baby girl bedding with colorful flowers that had faded now due to years and the sun. I looked in the changing table drawers next to find that they had all been cleared out, probably when my mom split taking me with her. There was no way I would be able to carry these furniture pieces down the stairs in the current state. I looked at both the crib and the changing table to see that I would need both a flat and a philips head screwdriver. Those things would most likely be found in a garage if this house had one but seeing as it doesn't, looking in the storage building would have to suffice. I threw on some shoes and made my way silently passed a sleeping Anthony to the front porch then to the left side of the house. The storage building was unlocked so at least I didn't have to find a key. Once inside the storage building I found it to be pretty empty except for a few empty boxes (which I could use) and a tiny tool box. The tool box contained the basic tools and I took the whole thing thinking I will most likely need something else from it later. I again silently made my way back up the stairs and into Anthony's room. After much frustration with stubborn screws I was finally able to break down both pieces of furniture. I t was cathartic in a way, knowing that I was working for a place to stay instead of it just being handed to me. I was able to put the bedding into one of the boxes I had brought up but elected to keep out the stuff bear I had found under the bed. It would need some TLC but it felt like I was reviving a bit of my childhood that had been taken from me. There wasn't much left to the room except a dresser and bookshelf and then of course the closet. The dresser ended up not having much in it at all except for a few articles of clothing and little sock divider things that looked like waves. On top of the dresser were little knick-knacks and a few pictures. A few of the pictures had my mom from when she was in the hospital and then there was one of me right after I was born being held by a brown haired young man who I suspected was Charlie. That picture got put off the side with the bear. The dresser wouldn't break down so I would have to figure out another way to get it out of the house. So, with me being stalled at the dresser I went on to tackle the book case. There were mostly books on the bookshelf, along with some random toys. I was getting really good progress till I came across a big pink scrap book. I sat down on the dusty hardwood floor as I opened the book. The first pages had 'My first scrapbook' in a fancy scrawl with a tiny picture of me in the corner. The next page explained some of my family, like Grandma Hope, who I knew from my mother's side of the family, she was dead now though. Most of the other people I didn't recognize so they must have been from Charlie's side of the family. The next page had information they must have gotten from when I was born like my height and weight and other stuff they added in as the years went on. My first word was daddy and I walked after only 9 months of life. The next few pages were of me being born and they all included my mother so I had no desire to see those. I turned to last page of the scrapbook and I felt tears build up into my eyes immediately. It was an entire page of just me and Charlie and we both looked so happy. I was either giggling or smiling and Charlie was always smiling and his eyes were sparkling. Why couldn't I have stayed here when my mom left, why did she have to take me away from this man. This man where obviously I was his whole world, his pride and joy, the reason he woke up every day. I was brought back to reality by tiny arms wrapping around my neck from the back.

"Mommy, why are you crying?" I tiny voice spoke into my ear.

"You see this man," I asked pointing to Charlie in the pictures. "This is your Grandpa Charlie and I was crying because I miss him." It was the truth, even though I didn't know Charlie I knew that he was a good man, a good husband, and a damn good father and every fiber of my being was missing him.

"Where is Grandpa Charlie?" The words broke my heart, the one good person that I so wanted Anthony to know and he was dead.

"He's in heaven with god, and he's watching over us." I told him pulling him into my lap so that we could look at the pictures together. Anthony couldn't believe that I was once so small and repeatedly told me I was lying when I said that the tiny baby in the pictures was me. The rumbling of a tiny tummy alerted me to the fact that neither one of us had had any breakfast. Since the only room in the house that had a clock was my room I had lost track of time. We didn't have any food that counted as breakfast so I guess I would have to find food somewhere else, which meant the last of our money would be spent.

"What do you want for breakfast little man?" I asked him as we made our way to the kitchen.

"Do we have anymore of those pop-tart things?" Sometimes I think he has the ability to know when we were running low on money and chooses to make sacrifices.

"Yea we do buddy, you sure that's what you want?" I began to get the pop-tarts out of the pantry and putting them in the toaster knowing that he wouldn't waver from his previous answer.

"I'm sure, but can we get burgers for lunch?" He looked up at me with the puppy dog eyes and there was no way that I could say no. When the pop-tarts popped up from the toaster I put them on a plate and got Anthony of glass of water, as soon as I laid his breakfast in front of him on the table I headed back up to his room to finish packing it away. By the time that Anthony had made it back up stairs from eating I had successfully packed away the contents from my former room including what little clothing was left in the closet.

"Mommy, can I help?"

"Sure, I have to take this stuff down into the storage building if you want to carry this that would be a big help." I handed him the lightest thing I could and picked up two of the boxes for myself. I didn't have to so silent going outside this time so I was able to go a lot quicker. It took five trips to get the three boxes and the random furniture parts into the storage building. Anthony couldn't hold much so his job was to open the doors and carry the legs to the crib one by one. Anthony was the one to make the decision on whether we packed away the rocker or not. I was surprised that he thought it was cool so it would be staying in the house but I wasn't quite sure where. For some reason after all the stuff was out of the room it looked much smaller. The room itself was still very dirty so we needed to deal with that first.

"How do you feel about a scavenger hunt?" I asked Anthony with a smile on my face.

"Yay!" His face lit up like the fourth of July.

"Okay, we are looking for a broom, a mop, any spray bottles you can find, washcloths, and big bowls." As soon as I finished with the list he zoomed out of the room. I instead headed to the bathroom to looking for any other cleaning supplies. Underneath the sink I found washcloths, some Windex, and pine-sol. I deposited the items in Anthony's room then headed down the stairs to look in the 'Harry Potter' closet. There wasn't anything in there worth using to clean so I went down the hall to the laundry room. In the corner of the room I found a broom, a dust pan with a brush, and a small bottle of oil soap wood cleaner. I was hoping that Anthony was finding the stuff I wasn't. I deposited my latest finds and went to the kitchen to search more. In the kitchen I found Anthony who immediately told me that he was here first so that meant I had to leave until he was done. After that little declaration of his I went up to his room to begin sweeping the floors. By the time I had got done sweeping the room Anthony had returned with the fruits of his labors. He brought a mop and a big plastic bowl filled with a can of roach spray, we wouldn't need the roach spray but it was a nice thought. Since he was being Mr. Helpful to day I grabbed the bowl and put some pine-sol and water in it, gave him a rag and told him to wash the base boards. Cleaning the baseboards wasn't absolutely necessary but he didn't need to know that. While he was cleaning the base boards I worked on getting the window clean with the Windex I found in the bathroom. By the time I got the window perfect Anthony had only cleaned a fourth of the baseboards, so instead of helping him I started to clean the walls using his bowl of diluted pine-sol. If I was going to clean the room I might as well do it right. It took us a good forty minutes to clean the base boards, the walls and to mop the floor in the room and in the closet. While the floor was drying I got Anthony into the shower and I went down to the living room. As I was relaxing on the couch the phone rang, a phone that I didn't realize we even owned. I eventually found the phone on a side table by the door in the living room.

"Hello?" How else were you supposed to answer the phone at your dead estranged father's house?

"Ms. Swan I presume." Came the voice of Mr. Lloyd, thank goodness it was someone I knew.

"Yeah it's me, is there a reason you're calling?" I knew this was too good to be true, they screwed up and I don't get the house, or he was in too much debt and it must be paid in blood. What the hell, where did that last thought come from. No, just remain calm nothing is wrong he's just checking up on you that all this is.

"Yes there is, I was hoping I could meet and have a talk with you today if that's okay with you." Shit, maybe there was something wrong.

"Sure. Could we meet here, I don't really know where anything else is at in this town." He chuckled at my response but said yes and told me he would be over around noon. He told me he would see me soon and hung up the phone. This appointment got me wondering exactly what time it was so I rushed up stairs to my room to discover that it was already 10:30. That left me with about an hour and half to get ready for this meeting. Should I even unpack considering he could just be telling me that they made a mistake or should I cook something even though there really isn't much? This was stressing me out and I'm not even sure I should be stressing me out; he probably just wants to talk about Charlie's will, yes that's it, calm down Bella.

"Mom, where's my clothes?" I forgot about Anthony, how could I forget about Anthony.

"I'm bringing them to you now." I tried to find some good clothes to put him in so that we could make a good first impression. After Anthony was dressed I let him go down stairs while I went to the kitchen to clean up. The next hour and a half went by unbelievably fast and soon I could hear knocking on the door. I opened the door slowly preparing myself. Mr. Lloyd wasn't what I thought he would be at all. He had an old fishing hat, jeans and a flannel shirt; I was expecting him to be wearing a suit or something but I guess there isn't a dress code for small town lawyers. He was of average height probably a few inches taller than me at about 5'9"; he had short brown hair and big brown eyes. His nose was proportional to his face and his lips were really thin. He looked like the average guy off the street except for the really pale skin which I'm guessing was due more too where he lived than by genetics.

"Right this way Mr. Lloyd" I told him leading him into the kitchen. Once we got into the kitchen and sat down at the table he immediately opened the folder he brought with him.

"I want to try to make this a short a visit as possible I imagine you have things you want to get done with today." He told me while shuffling around a few papers. "Charlie had a good life insurance plan and no debts that you need to worry about."

"Okay" I wasn't sure what the proper response to that was.

"Since it took awhile to find you and since this is a small community we all chipped in and were able to hold a small service for Charlie. In his Will he wants everything to go to you, there isn't much in his name but it's all yours now. The house is completely paid for as is the old truck out front. He had a little bit of money in his bank account that he wanted to go toward paying for the utilities in this house, so all the utilities are completely paid for, for the next 6 months. Lastly, his life insurance policy, which has a payout of 70,000 dollars, that goes entirely to you."

"Wait; did you just say 70,000 dollars?" There is no way that, that amount of money is all mine, hell I've never even owned more than a thousand dollars at once.

"Yes mam I did."

"Are you sure you didn't just add another zero on to that?"

"I'm completely positive."

"I never even knew him, why would he leave all of this to me?" I don't get it he only got to know me for two years, there's no way he built that much love to leave me everything when he died.

"I can't answer that question for you but I can help you with what you want to do with this money."

"Umm…I want 50,000 to go to a savings account for Anthony and 5,000 to go toward the Police department here in Forks, and I guess the rest to me."

"You sure you want to give up some of the money."

"Yeah, I think Charlie would have wanted the money to go to a good cause, would I be able to know what the money I donate goes to."

"I'm pretty sure we can find a way to arrange that." He began to get out a check book and a pen.

"Am I getting the money right now?" I asked him thinking there was no way he was just going to hand over 70,000 dollars right now in a kitchen.

"The 15,000 that is yours yes, the rest of it we can discuss at a later date." He wrote out the check and gave it to me.

"Thank You."

"Don't thank me, thank Charlie." Trust me I will. "Is there anything else that I can help you with?"

"Actually now that you mention it I did have a few questions. I was wondering where the grocery store is, a bank, an elementary school, and the nearest furniture store."

"Let's see; the best grocery store would have to be Forks Outfitters, I would go with the Bank of America over on Forks Avenue, Forks Elementary school is on East E Street right off of Forks Avenue actually come to think of it it's really close to the bank. For a good furniture store you are going to have to go all the way to Seattle. If you drive up and down Forks Avenue you should find everything you're looking for."

"Thank you again for everything, you've been a big help." I followed him out onto the front porch, the check still clutched tightly in my hand.

"No problem, have a good day." I watched as he got into his car and drove away, I stood on the porch for a little while not trusting that this was real.

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AN: I was actually going to extend this chapter but I ended up breaking it into two separate chapters. The next one should be out later today, I just need to go over it and make sure there's nothing wrong with it. As you will come to find out, I have done a lot of research while writing this story. All of these streets and stores are real, even the ones from the previous chapter. I wasn't real sure about the life insurance thing but I did find an average of between 54,000 and 105,000 and I decided to choose something near the middle. I alos wasn't sure how the giving of the money was done so i just came up with a way. Sorry if i was completely wrong. The next chapter is more of a filler chapter but it won't be completely boring, I hope. It picks up immediately where this one left off.

-Lostinreality


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